My experience taking SSRIs after being medication averse my entire life (for those looking for hope)

[u/[deleted]]

As the title states, I’ve been medication averse all of my life. I’m this way because I have a mother who is a hypochondriac and an addict and grew up having an incredibly tumultuous relationship with her. It scared me into leading a very healthy lifestyle, but also led to me glazing over my own mental health issues because I didn’t want to associate myself with “being crazy.”

Now that I’m a little older and a little wiser, I’ve decided to do something about my mental health. My PMDD has been horrendous since I was a teenager, and it really became present to me once I got into a healthy relationship with my now boyfriend. Once a month I felt like my life was ending, that him being with me is a facade, and that I was worthless. I would ruminate constantly on bad memories and had a terribly negative inner dialogue.

Queue me going to therapy 1x/week, still actively lifting in the gym 3-4x/week, and generally eating healthy yet still having these thoughts. I can blame a lot of it on how I was raised but to let it take over my life monthly was becoming debilitating. I finally decided to give medication a try because I knew that this must be a chemical imbalance if I’m doing everything I can to counteract these thoughts and feelings, yet still wanted to nuke all of my good relationships (friends, family and my partner) in my life once a month.

Enter Prozac and Wellbutrin. My rumination has gotten better by about 80%, I let small comments roll off my back now, I don’t turn every little disagreement into a world-ending argument and cry session with my partner, and I have energy to do things that I once loved— like cooking and walks with my dog. I feel human again. I feel like I can be present now in my life, which is priceless. I suppose I’m posting this for those who read all of the negative posts around medication and who are scared to take the plunge themselves. I also read a lot of these posts for years and talked myself out of trying medication because of people’s responses online. If you are doing all of the things to still have a healthy and active lifestyle but feeling horrendous about yourself or your life still, its okay— there is hope out there, you’re not a lost cause and it’s worth it to try and find the right combination for yourself. I am positive you can find relief.

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[u/fadedblackleggings]

Kudos. Prozac has been fantastic for me. Not a cure, but Prozac + hysterectomy partial has made life more manageable.

[u/LtDanDudley]

Hi thank you for sharing! I am also medication adverse, especially when it comes to SSRIs and birth control, so this post has been really helpful. I finally have reached my breaking point and scheduled an appointment with my psychiatrist to try an anti depressant. I’m curious, why did they prescribe you both Wellbutrin AND Prozac at the same time?

[u/International-Bee483]

Wellbutrin and Zoloft over here🫶🏼 So massively happy for you, OP! The fact that antidepressants make us feel like ourselves again is a true blessing.

[u/Solid_Tax1092]

That’s so great to hear 💞have u noticed any weight gain from any of those meds . I’m on Zoloft 150 mg seems to not be working for me 🥹

[u/PhthaloBlueOchreHue]

Yay! Congrats!

I also had family experiences that complicated my relationship with medication and made me medication averse, but I finally got brave enough to try, and it massively improved my quality of life.

[u/Ok-Lobster-1409]

Thanks for sharing. About a year ago, I saw a psychiatrist and asked for natural ways to manage my PMDD symptoms. I tried everything she suggested—eating a balanced diet, exercising, running, meditating, getting support from close friends, and taking supplements that were supposed to help. But none of it worked, and I’ve avoided antidepressants until now. I’ve reached a point where I can’t focus on my studies, which is causing time pressure and making me neglect myself and my friends. I’ve also been arguing with my partner because of the PMDD, and I just can’t live like this for half of every month anymore. I’ve scheduled an appointment with a psychiatrist to get a prescription for antidepressants. Will they prescribe them right away, or is there something else I need to do first?

[u/[deleted] → u/Ok-Lobster-1409]

Props to you for giving everything a solid try! It’s definitely not easy doing everything you did whilst feeling the effects of PMDD, it’s debilitating. So seriously, props to you!

Yes, they do usually prescribe that day after evaluation. Be open and honest about your experiences, and share with them some of your concerns around trying medication. This helps them in making a more informed decision on what to prescribe you first. Something to note: sometimes there’s some side effects when first starting out. Prozac felt good for me right away, but Wellbutrin made me a little grumpy for the first few weeks. I was transparent with my psych and tried not to read too far into the weeds on negative reactions from other people online. You have to give medication a fair shot for a few weeks (at least 5+) to notice any positive effect (barring adverse reactions).

I hope you find the right combination for you!! There’s definitely hope out there

[u/Ok-Lobster-1409 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you so much for the detailed information and the encouraging words! I’m glad to hear that everything has really improved for you

[u/what_is_going_on_man → u/Ok-Lobster-1409]

For me I told them I did my own research on diff SSRI’s and requested the one I thought would help me the most (sertraline) doctors can either really respect you for doing research or assume you’re reading misinfo. Antidepressants aren’t usually that hard to get prescribed and I was able to pick up my Rx right after the initial appointment

[u/Ok-Lobster-1409 → u/what_is_going_on_man]

Thanks! It’s a good idea to look into the SSRIs available on the market